This is the first in a series of posts looking at how a global sample of more than 325 systems integrators (SIs) who participated in the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS)* ranked broadcast technology vendors in a variety of measures. For information about how these results were collected, please see the bottom of this post**.

The product side of the film & broadcast industry is driven by technology and innovation. All vendors strive to create techniques that will make their products stand out from the competition. Thus innovation is a very important component of the brand image and reputation of vendors in this space.

This post looks at the opinions of a different, but very influential type of broadcast technology buyer – systems integrators (SIs). In an era when many broadcasters are shedding technology positions, SIs have become an extremely important part of the technology value chain. Broadcasters now routinely outsource their project work to SIs, who are called in for their expertise and experience. Thus the relationship that vendors have with their SI partners is very important to their business.

So how do systems integrators rank broadcast technology vendors for innovation?

The chart below shows the responses from more than 325 SIs. It is broken out by geography to show the responses of the global sample of SIs as well as the responses of SIs in EMEA and the Americas. Due to a small sample size, SI rankings for Asia-Pacific have not been included. For the sake of comparison, I have also included in this chart the rankings of all respondents (regardless for organization type, geography etc), and all broadcasters (regardless of size or geography), in the first and second columns respectively.

Please note that in all cases, these brands are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order of their ranking in the study

Question: How would you rate [Brand X] on the following attribute [Innovation] where 1 = very poor and 10 = best in the market?

Some thoughts and observations about these findings:

* There are total of nine vendors in this chart. Of those nine, only Snell & Wilcox and Sony appear in all columns, meaning that these vendors made the top 5 innovation list for all respondents, all broadcasters and all SIs.

* Although some of the brands that broadcasters ranked in the top 5 for innovation also appeared in the top 5 innovation list for SIs, there are some brands that appear in the top 5 rankings of one group but not the other

* EVS makes the top 5 innovation list for the global sample of all respondents as well as for all broadcasters globally. However, the company is absent from all categories in the top 5 innovation ranking of SIs

* The reverse is true for Omneon and Pebble Beach. Neither company make the top 5 innovation list for the global sample or the broadcaster sample. However, both companies do make the top 5 innovation list for systems integrators globally and in EMEA.

* Miranda did not make the top 5 innovation list for the global sample of all respondents, but the company appears in the top 5 innovation list for all broadcasters and SIs globally and regionally. Overall, Miranda is listed four times in this chart, appearing in the top 5 innovation list for all categories except the global sample of all respondents.

* Thomson / Grass Valley is the opposite of Miranda. The company makes the top 5 innovation list for the global sample of all respondents, but does not appear in the top 5 innovation list of either broadcasters or SIs.

* Like Thomson / Grass Valley, Harris appears once in the chart. The company makes the top 5 innovation ranking for SIs in the Americas, but not for any other category.

* Evertz appears in the top 5 innovation list for the global sample, and the sample of all broadcasters. While Evertz does not make the top 5 innovation list for all systems integrators, it is included in the top 5 innovation list for SIs in the Americas.

* In addition to differences in rankings between broadcasters and SIs, there are also some regional variations in the SI rankings.

* As mentioned above, the single appearance of Harris is in the list of SIs in the Americas

* Evertz also has a strong showing in the Americas. It appears in the top 5 innovation ranking for SIs in the Americas, but not for those in EMEA. Evertz is also absent from the top 5 innovation list of the global sample of SIs.

* Pebble Beach, which appears twice in this chart, appears in the top 5 innovation list for SIs in EMEA and also for SIs globally, but the company does not appear on the top 5 innovation list for SIs in the Americas.

* The annual Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) is the largest and most comprehensive studies of broadcast technology vendor brands and industry trends. The BBS provides insight into market trends and the perceptions of leading broadcast industry vendor brands by practitioners across the world. It also delivers vendor brand ranking “league tables” in a variety of product categories; all of which can be segmented by geography and customer type.

** Respondents to the BBS were asked to rank their opinion of twenty-five broadcast technology vendor brands in a variety of categories including awareness; overall opinion; change of opinion; recommendation; and a variety of brand attributes and brand drivers such as innovation, reliability, quality and great customer service. The responses were then aggregated into a series of industry “league tables” that rank each broadcast technology vendor brand against the metrics mentioned above.